theboondork's RV blog

I finally accomplished something useful

7/5/2022

Click the pics, it only takes a second; in less you're lazy like me and then it takes twice as long.

Purple and white flower

The mood finally hit me to do something useful today, and I decided the most useful thing I could do is attach a solar panel to the roof so I can keep the house battery in the Lance charged up as soon as I get some wires to run from the solar panels to the solar controller.

Like I've mentioned before, the solar panels I've got are 100 watt panels, and they're a lot lighter than I remember when I installed them on the broncos roof. Solar panels on the Arctic Fox were much bigger and heavier than these hundred-watt panels. The ones on the Arctic Fox are Kyocera 140-watt panels, and I couldn't put those up on the roof of the Arctic Fox by myself, but these hundred-watt panels are a lot easier to deal with.

Since they were lighter, I didn't need any help like I thought I would, I was able to climb up the ladder with one hand while carrying a panel in the other hand, which I wouldn't have attempted had it been windy. An old saying aboard sailing ships goes, "One hand for the ship, and one for thee." I always keep that in mind when climbing a ladder with a handful of tools, or in this case a solar panel.

But anyway, the first panel went so easy, I put two more up there and screwed them all down, which used up all my solar panels I had removed from the bronco, and all I have left are two new panels leaning against the wall in the living room of the Arctic Fox. So I'll wait until I get some wiring to hook everything up before I put on the two new solar panels.

Theboondork

From on the ground you can barely see the solar panels on the front of the camper roof.

Here you can see the three panels I installed this morning. All I need to do now is hook up the wiring.

Looking at the empty space I have on the roof I think I could easily get seven or eight 100 watt panels up there, if I wasn't so concerned about the weight the truck is caring around.

The first thing I'll get rid of on this roof will be that toadstool looking TV antenna. The other day I removed the swinging arm thingy that a TV attaches to that allows you to move the TV in different directions. I have no intention of putting a TV in the Lance, and I can feel my IQ increasing a few points just thinking of being without a TV.

4 Comments

Judith

7/5/2022 08:02:20 pm

Not only did you survive the 4th, but you got some important things done today. I'm impressed. And YES.
Get rid of that tv thing. I never turn on my tv. I keep it for house guests. Wait, no. I do watch something recorded (so I can fast forward through commercials) while I'm doing a pedicure on myself, which, the older I get, is more like the work a horse hoof trimmer does than a pedicure.

Tom

7/5/2022 08:37:00 pm

Thank you Judith, I was impressed myself. And my ambition, fleeting though it may be, has given me the desire, if not the motivation, to get up early in the morning and get the solar panels wired up, since Amazon brought me some wires late this afternoon.

Once I became a fulltimer I vowed to watch less news on TV, and found pretty quickly that no news kept me in a better mood all day. I still watched some old shows I liked such as Hogan's Heroes, Paladin, Gunsmoke and old reruns like that. But once I figured out I could get all that on the Internet, and watch it whenever I wanted to I no longer had a need for a television, and depend on the Internet for my entertainment.

I don't get pedicures, in fact I pretty much leave my toenails alone until they start poking through my shoes. But I've noticed every year my feet get farther and farther away from my hands and any nail clippers they may hold. And I feel it won't be long until anything on or around my feet will just be a distant memory, and my toenails will have to fend for themselves.

Tom

Linda

7/6/2022 02:27:01 pm

We removed the TV from our first motorhome as well. Who needs to carry that weight when you have a laptop computer? Of course, we had to collect it from the storeroom and reinstall it before selling.

7/6/2022 02:40:43 pm

I've done the same thing Linda. Everything I take out of an RV that needs to be put back in when I sell it is in my storage room. It would be much more convenient if I didn't have the overwhelming desire to modify my RVs, but what fun would that be if I couldn't change everything to suit myself?

Tom

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

I finally accomplished something useful

Leave a Reply.

Archives

CONTACT THEBOONDORK